On the second floor of Ollivander's Wand Shop at 267 Diagon Alley, Garrick Ollivander looked at the five wands on the table in front of him, a hint of daze flashing in his eyes.
Last year, Robert had made a wand with a Red Cap's heart nerve as the core, which had astonished him so much that he hadn't slept for several days. Now, that wand seemed almost ordinary in comparison.
Looking at the others on the table… An entire Troll's spine, a wizard's hair, a Unicorn's soul, and something else he couldn't quite identify, but it definitely wasn't a good thing.
These materials were grinding Garrick's understanding of wandmaking to dust, then piecing it back together only to be ground down again… This process repeated four times.
And now, Robert was asking him questions about how to shrink a Troll's spine to a manageable size for a wand core, how to quickly select a wand body that would complement a wizard's hair…
He didn't know!
He had been making wands for nearly a hundred years, but he had never used a Troll's spine as such an outrageous material.
The centuries of accumulated experience seemed to evaporate when faced with Robert's innovative approaches. This left Garrick continually wondering what exactly Robert had experienced at Hogwarts.
"We can put everything else aside for now," Garrick finally spoke, picking up the wand that seemed the most ordinary on the table. It was also the one he considered the most abnormal. "How did you make a wand from a wizard's hair?"
"Is there a problem?" Robert asked casually. "Didn't you also make a wand with a Veela hair fixed inside?"
"A Veela is not a wizard," Garrick replied. "Even though a Veela can appear identical to a witch and even marry a wizard, a Veela is still a magical creature, and the magic it possesses is entirely different from that of a wizard."
"I haven't tried using a wizard's hair, but without exception, I've failed," he continued. "My grandfather, and my grandfather's grandfather, none of them succeeded."
Garrick then explained the reason behind the failures.
A wand's function is to complement a wizard's own magic, filling the gaps in a wizard's power, much like two semi-circular magnets—one positive and one negative—forming a complete circle when connected.
This is why most wizards can only cast spells with a wand, while only a few elite wizards can make their magic complete through years of study, resulting in wandless magic.
Magic from magical creatures is fundamentally different. It is the "negative pole" magic, unlike a wizard's own "positive pole" magic. We can see this difference at Hogwarts, where a magical restriction like Apparition doesn't affect house-elves or Phoenixes.
A wizard's hair is naturally part of the "positive pole," so how could two positive poles be used together?
After hearing Garrick's explanation, Robert sat up in surprise.
"Wait, has there never been a wand like this before?" he asked, somewhat incredulous.
"Well, you can't say that," Garrick frowned. "There was the invincible Andrews, whose wand core was his own tooth."
"Then that's fine," Robert shrugged, unfazed. "Anyway, I did make it."
"What about the effect?" Garrick asked eagerly.
"I don't know," Robert thought for a moment, then continued, "However, I heard that Professor McGonagall finds it quite handy."
"What about others?" Garrick pressed.
"I also find it quite handy."
"Is that what I meant?" Garrick's face turned red. He picked up the wand and waved it gently.
"Orchideous!" he called.
The wand shook violently a few times before sparks shot out from the tip, almost setting Garrick's hair on fire.
But Garrick didn't care at all. His eyes were wide with excitement, as bright as light bulbs.
"It is indeed like this... but…" He sighed deeply, his expression a mix of resignation and awe, as though he had guessed the outcome but still couldn't fully process it.
Even though he couldn't use this wand himself, the fact that Professor McGonagall could made it remarkable. The sparks that had just shot out were proof that some form of magic was indeed being triggered.
"Could it be that the magic reaction generated by the hair is not strong enough?" Garrick murmured to himself, almost pressing his eyes against the wand, analyzing it deeply. "Coupled with your unique wand core magic, it's catalyzing an entirely new type of magic…"
He then picked up the wand vertically, fingers rubbing the body of it, tapping it gently at intervals.
"A never-before-seen magical resonance… It's just too simple... Oh no, this is the key! I hadn't considered this… It's truly amazing, Robert. This thought process is something I completely missed!"
"Robert, can I borrow it for a while?" Garrick asked, unable to hide his excitement.
"Of course, you can," Robert replied, slightly taken aback by the eagerness in Garrick's voice.
Although Robert had witnessed similar moments before, the depth of understanding that Garrick displayed never ceased to amaze him.
When creating the Quintaped core, it had been Garrick who suggested using a bamboo wand body, a material he had rarely employed. This time, even though Robert had made the wizard's hair wand core, he didn't fully understand the principle behind it. But Garrick had figured it out in mere minutes, which was why he was regarded as a top-tier wandmaker.
Looking at Garrick, whose eyes were glowing with excitement, Robert asked curiously, "Can you make a wand like this too?"
"Not now," Garrick answered.
"Then will you be able to in the future?"
"Not in the future either," Garrick said seriously. "The wands I make may not be suitable for everyone, but I certainly won't make one for just one specific person."
He looked at Robert with a smile. "Of course, that's my choice, not yours. You should find your own path, even if that path is completely different from mine—or even from all the Ollivanders. That doesn't matter."
Robert didn't reply. After a long pause, he murmured softly, "The way you say that, it sounds like I would change if you didn't approve of my choices."
This time, it was Garrick who fell silent.
"Grandfather," Robert changed the subject. "Since you won't make a wand like this, why waste your time researching it?"
"The Goblins at Gringotts never think they have too much treasure, even if they can't use it," Garrick said, his voice growing more philosophical. "To me, wands are treasure."
Robert nodded thoughtfully, as if understanding.
He then pointed to the other three wands on the table. "What about these? Anyway, I won't need them over the holidays, so you can borrow all of them."
"No need," Garrick replied quickly, though his lips quivered slightly. "I like wands, but only those I can comprehend."
Just like how the Goblins might love treasure but would never steal Dumbledore's Galleons, Garrick simply couldn't wrap his head around how to store an entire Unicorn into a twelve-inch wand body. This question alone could drive any wandmaker insane.
To avoid endless confusion, Garrick's wisdom and eighty years of life experience urged him to abandon such impossible tasks.
The same principle applied to the remaining two wands. He was content to leave them in Robert's care.
Let
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